Vegan on the Go! Salem and Beverly, MA

As it turns out, Massachusetts has organic veg-friendly cafes pretty much everywhere. Also, they are actually not expensive, especially if you are used to NYC prices.

This is our second time visiting Salem, and once again we enjoyed walking all around, checking out the shops and historical sites, etc. The hokey magic shops are silly, and the Halloween-witch imagery is pretty insensitive considering the people hanged here in 1692 were not actually witches. But still, there are beautiful old buildings everywhere, a pretty little waterfront, and overall it's very peaceful and quiet.

We wanted to check out a Nick Cave exhibit at the Peabody Essex Museum, but sadly it was closed. Luckily, we found an awesome organic cafe called Life Alive, a local MA-based chain.

Definitely hippie-tastic, with "inspirational" quotes and sayings all over the place in dreadful Papyrus font. I'm not sure why almost all "healthy" type eateries feel compelled to use this font, but I really wish some talented designer would help 'em out. Regardless, their hearts are in the right place and their food was super tasty.

Life Alive has smoothies, wraps, yummy food bowls, etc etc. I had a giant bowl filled with the most delicious mix of chopped red beets, kale, sprouted legumes, broccoli, brown rice, and house made goddess dressing. Ketch had a wrap with steamed tofu, carrots, corn, and other nice veggies. He gobbled it right up. Our smoothies were also off the hook and served in mason jars (of course). In the condiments section, there was a bottle of Bragg's and a shaker of nutritional yeast. I hope this chain comes to NYC ASAP because it was seriously soooo brutally delicious and crazy filling. Yummmm!!!!

Shit's deep.

So freakin' good.

Ketch is such a babe.

Papyrus WHY?!

A sweet sunny day in Salem.

Yesterday on our way from Gloucester to Boston, we ate at Organic Garden, an all veg cafe in Beverly, Mass. They also had a vast array of wraps, salads, bowls, pizzas, and other snackies. It's all mostly gluten free, raw, vegan, and of course the menu featured hippie musings in Papyrus font. The Thai bowl was pretty tasty flavor-wise, with cashews, brown rice, and all kinds of chopped organic veggies, sprouts, scallions, etc. However, the bowl was SATURATED with soy sauce and it was kind of a soupy mess. I ate the less saucy part and saved the rest for later.

The baked goods case was the real highlight of Organic Garden. They had loads of homemade raw organic vegan chocolates, coconut-based treats, and all of sorts of sweet indulgences made of good ingredients. I got a cashew cup (like a reese's but with raw cashew butter), almond cup, and hazelnut bark. All of them were chocolatey and mouth melt-y. Dreamboat city!!